Socorro Mission La Purísima

Between the first church and the present one stood another, now gone. A second permanent church, dedicated to La Limpia Concepción, was built from 1725 to 1744. In 1727 the royal inspector Pedro de Rivera praised the region's fertility. In 1744 Fray Juan Miguel Menchero sent a map, a report and a sketch of the church, counting sixty Piro and six Spanish families. By 1750 the visitor counted forty-three Piro families, who now understood Spanish.

What the plaque says

Socorro Mission La Purísima During the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, Gov. Don Antonio de Otermín and Father Francisco de Ayeta led Piro Indian and Spanish refugees out of New Mexico into this region, establishing a settlement they named Socorro after the home they had left. The town's first permanent adobe church was built in 1691 and was called Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción de Los Piros Del Socorro (Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of the Piros of Socorro). Construction of the present structure began following a destructive 1829 flood and was completed in 1840. The flood changed the course of the Rio Grande from north of Socorro to south of the townsite. When the river was declared the U.S. - Mexico boundary, Socorro became part of the United States. Under the administration of Franciscan monks for 172 years, the church was later governed by Diocesan priests, as well as by Italian and Mexican Jesuits. Its history spans the time of the region's occupancy by Spain, Mexico, and the United States. Although Socorro Mission La Purísima, as it is now known, has been overshadowed by urban growth in nearby El Paso, it remains one of the oldest continuously occupied settlements in the Southwest. (1983)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Socorro Mission (Nuestra Senora de la Limpia Concepcion del Socorro) — steps away
  Socorro's adobe church on the El Paso Mission Trail, with walls five feet thick, carved vigas from an older church and a statue of Saint Michael said to have chosen the town.
• Tigua Indian Cultural Center, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo — 1.9 mi
  The cultural center of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, the Tigua nation that has lived in the Mission Valley of El Paso since 1682 and keeps its own history here.
• Ysleta Mission (Corpus Christi de la Ysleta del Sur) — 2.6 mi
  The Tigua mission church at Ysleta, rebuilt in 1908 around the walls, bell and Santo Entierro that came through fire, its interior painted with rain clouds and corn.
• San Elizario Historic District — 5.4 mi
  A plaza of adobe buildings at the end of the El Paso Mission Trail: an 1877 chapel, Gregorio Garcia's portaled house and the old county jail of Billy the Kid legend.

More markers nearby

• Socorro — steps away
• The Camino Real — steps away
• Early Site of Socorro Mission — 0.7 mi
• Rio Vista Farm — 2.2 mi